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NOIS CENTENNIAL PLAYS 



Suggestions 



FOR GIVING 



Six Little Plays 



FOR 



Illinois Children 



By 

WALLACE RICE 

Pageant Writer, Illinois Centennial 

Commission. 



Published by the 
Illinois Centennial Commission 



Printed by Authority of the State of Illinois 



ILLINOIS CENTENNIAL PLAYS 



Suggestions 



FOR GIVING 



Six Little Plays 



FOR 



Illinois Children 



By 
WALLACE RICE 

Pageant Writer, Illinois Centennial 
Commission. 



Published ' by the 

Illinois Centennial Commission 



Printed by Authority of the State of Illinois 



V 5^ 



Sohnepp & Barnes, State Printers 

Springfield, III. 

1918. 

#023— 3M 



or v. 

mti 8 1919 



SUGGESTIONS FOR GIVING SIX LITTLE PLAYS 
FOR ILLINOIS CHILDREN. 



The Problem. The dialogue and certain stage 
directions are given in separate volumes of the "Six 
Little Plays for Illinois Children." These booklets 
do not constitute the plays. They are mere direc- 
tions for giving the plays, the dialogue telling what 
to say, the stage directions telling what to do, in 
exactly the same sense in which a piece of paper 
with words and notes of music does not constitute 
a song, but merely the words to be sung and the 
notes to sing them on. Much more than the book- 
lets contain will have to be worked out: Where 
the characters are to stand or sit when speaking, 
how they are to reach such positions, how they are 
to be grouped upon .occasion, the manner in which 
given lines are to be spoken or sung for their best 
interpretation, how the stage is to be arranged un- 
der local circumstances with the needs of presenta- 
tion in mind, how it is to be lighted when lights are 
needed, how all these results are to be best obtained, 
how the characters are to be dressed, what articles 
(the properties) are needed and how they shall be 
cared for, and much more. Let it be said that all 
this sounds much more difficult than it will be found 
to be. 

Management. The preliminary organization 
should be made with reference to the selection of 
a stage manager, an assistant stage manager, a 



wardrobe mistress and an assistant, a property man 
and an assistant, a prompter and an assistant promp- 
ter, and a person in charge of the lights with an 
assistant. 

Cast. There are eight speaking parts, four boys 
and four girls, in each play, and eight more per- 
sons, four boys and four girls, can be utilized, who 
have no speaking parts. But the other eight should 
each understudy one of the speaking parts, to guard 
against accident. If the school stage is large, or the 
plays are to be given in ample spaces out-of-doors, 
as many more children without speaking parts as 
can be made dramatically effective can be placed on 
the stage. By dramatically effective is meant as 
many as can be kept fluid and natural under the 
circumstances to assist in the effect desired. This 
depends largely upon stage management — the better 
the management, the larger the number permissible. 

Prologues. While the prologues may be omitted, 
if given they can be spoken by as many different 
children as there are prologues, six in all, or one 
child can do them all, or three children may each 
do two, or two children may each do three. The 
lines are more insistently rhythmical than would 
be the case with older persons reciting them. Good 
clear voices are required, considerable vivacity, and 
it must be kept in mind that they are not written 
in prose, but in blank verse, with a slight pause at 
the end of each line to mark the fact. The Prologue 
may be dressed as a herald, in tabard and fleshings, 
and accompanied by trumpeters to blow the blast 
signifying the opening of the play, or as an Indian 
chief accompanied by tom-toms, as a woodland sprite 



or fairy with attendants or without, or as Illinois 
personified in any suitable manner, or in costumes 
appropriate to the play ensuing. 

Scene. A single scene answers for all of the 
plays. There is an entrance to the left (of the 
audience) nearest the footlights indoors or the line 
of the stage outdoors. Another entrance is to the 
right of the center of the stage stretching off diag- 
onally to the right, but showing something of a 
vista. If it can slope upward away from the stage 
it will be better. Left of the center at the back of 
the stage is the entrance to a cave, in front of which 
should be bushes fixed firmly enough to be parted 
and to spring back after being crawled through. 
Probably a slit in the back-drop will answer indoors, 
while outdoors earth may be piled around a barrel, 
which can be crawled through. There should be a 
way out on the other side, but care should be taken 
to keep any light showing through from the back. 
In Play V the site of the cave is occupied by the 
front of a little red school-house, which may be 
placed cornering to obviate the need for sides in- 
doors; outdoors a portable school-house can be sup- 
plied in some cases by the school authorities. It 
must have a practicable door. In Play VI a pile of 
real bricks, stones, and bits of wood which can be 
cleared away is set on top of the cave entrance. 
Behind a curtain this can be arranged; outdoors 
where no curtain can be used there can be a group- 
ing of the procession in front while this is effected, 
or it can be done openly. American audiences are 
accustomed to putting up with a great deal. 



6 



Costumes. Play I calls for cotton khaki cloth 
to simulate buckskin, with short leggings and short 
hunting shirt, both fringed at the seams, for the 
boys, and longer leggings and shirts for the girls. 
The children are barefooted, but moccasins can be 
worn. Wigs of straight black hair, loose for the 
boys, braided for the girls, will add. Children nat- 
urally dark of eyes and hair can be used in this 
scene to advantage. The skin, wherever exposed, 
must be darkened and reddened with grease paint. 

Play II requires simple clothing, white for the 
girls, with jumpers and breeches for the boys, who 
may wear dark blue kerchiefs over their heads. The 
children may all be barefooted, and shoes, if worn, 
should be rather coarse and clumsy. 

Play III should see the boys in linsey-woolsey 
shirts, or common "hickory" ones, with longish 
trousers, and the girls in one-piece frocks longer 
than are now worn. Hank and Hannah are rather 
more carefully dressed, and have shoes and long 
stockings on at first; the others are barefooted. 

Play IV calls for simple dressing, the boys in 
overalls that have seen service, the girls in white 
or in colored calicos with sunbonnets, the boys wear- 
ing wide-brimmed straw hats except Ned, who has 
a cap. Harry is booted and carries a riding-whip, 
his clothing being more expensive than that of the 
others. Billee is ragged and, of course, black wher- 
ever his skin shows; all but Harry are barefooted. 
Harry's companions are dressed much like the French 
boys in II. 

Play V is in February, and clothing of the Civil 
War period is worn. All are shod, of course, but 



care is to be taken to have the clothing look old- 
fashioned. 

Play VI is for Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls, 
except Walter and Mary, who are in the dress of 
today. 

Wardrobe Mistress. A girl with the needed as- 
sistants should be chosen as Wardrobe Mistress, 
who shall see that the necessary costumes are on 
hand when required, shall take charge of them dur- 
ing rehearsals and be generally responsible for them. 
She should also have charge of the paints, cosmetics, 
and the like for the make-ups, and assist in this at 
dress rehearsals and performances. 

Properties. Play I needs bows and arrows, war 
clubs and axes, which are made of stone and wood, 
without metal. These can be made with a little 
teaching. Colored grease paints in sticks for the 
boys to line on their faces for the war dance are 
required. If rude drums are provided, for the girls 
to beat while the boys dance, the savage effect will 
be heightened. A small yellow dog— a small dog 
in any event, not a puppy — should be on hand, and 
should be in rehearsals, to ensure good behavior at 
the performance. 

Play II needs only a pure white flag on a staff 
and an old-fashioned drum with a long barrel. 

Play III requires bows and arrows, which may 
be of modern type, long pointed sticks with their 
points hardened in the fire and showing black, short 
heavy clubs of wood with the bark on, a small rifle 
with bullet pouch and powder horn for Ted— a 
modern rifle will probably have to answer for the 
old flint-lock. 



Play IV demands a short heavy log of wood and 
a lunch-basket with edible sandwiches — real food. 

Play V needs an American Flag (the Flag of 
the period had thirty-four stars), two pieces of writ- 
ing paper, an old-fashioned newspaper, and two 
doughnuts and an apple for Wallie. 

Play VI calls for stone or wood tipped arrows 
without feathers, three large copper coins, a Lincoln 
cent, an electric torch, and a pocket magnifying 
glass. 

Property Max. All these properties should be 
in the hands of one of the children and his assistant. 
who should be responsible for them on all occasions 
and attend rehearsals in order to become absolutely 
familiar with their use. 

Light Max. If artificial lights are required, a 
Light Man should be selected who will know from 
practice exactly when the lights are to be turned 
on and off, and what switches are to be used. He 
should have an assistant, perhaps two, if a curtain 
is used, to raise and lower the curtain. Where a 
"quick curtain" is called for, frequent rehearsals 
should enable him to use speed. 

Speech. The dialogue is written for the speech 
of children in the playground rather than in the 
school-room. Large concessions have been made to 
correctness of grammar and elimination of expletives 
and slang, as well as usual corruptions — a better 
speech than children generally use. Beyond that the 
children can be relied upon, probably, to speak as 
children do colloquially — trippingly. The speeches 
are notably short and should be crisp, the effect of 
spontaneity being sought always. Any tendency to 



9 



drag must be frowned upon. If the children are left 
to themselves in reason, they will know by ready 
comparison whether the scene is going right — as it 
would with them naturally. In Play III Hank and 
Hannah do not speak with more painstaking than 
the other children, but with more regard for the 
dictionary pronunciations, using the Italian "a" 
where it is there demanded, and reducing final "r" 
to a vocal murmur. 

Rehearsals. The very brevity and crispness of 
the dialogue demand frequent rehearsals to secure 
instant attention to all cues and the spontaneity 
necessary. The action must be suited to the word 
and all action plainly worked out at the outset. 
Each of the eight principals and the eight under- 
studies should have the book of the play, and at the 
first rehearsal these should have been given them in 
time to have the actors letter perfect, with their 
own parts and the cues for them securely in memory. 
It should be felt that it is an honor to assist in 
celebrating the centennial anniversary of Illinois, 
and lack of interest should be followed by dismissal 
from the cast. The Stage Manager should be the 
dictator and absolute obedience required. Upon his 
ingenuity in working out the action will depend the 
number of children to be used beyond the normal 
number of sixteen, and he must take pains to see 
that chances are given the understudies to take the 
places of their respective principals, to obviate acci- 
dent and illness. There must be no standing around 
on the stage, and nobody allowed on it who has not 
business there. Rehearsals should be given at short 



10 



intervals between, and there should be at least two 
full dress rehearsals. 

Prompters. There should be a Prompter and an 
assistant, both with capacity for learning the entire 
text of the play. They should be at every rehearsal, 
stationed off stage left, ready to assist in every way 
in jogging balky and defective memories, whether 
for words or action. The moments when such service 
is needed will develop in rehearsals, and preparation 
made to meet them on the instant. 

Grown People. Parents and kinsfolk of the chil- 
dren should not be allowed at rehearsals, and grown 
people in general should not be allowed to make their 
presence in any way manifest. Children of the age 
required are, in general, much better actors than 
their elders, and can be quite without self-conscious- 
ness. In some scenes, like the war dance in Play I 
and the opening of Play V, they should be encouraged 
to let themselves go, and there should be at no time 
any suppression of enthusiasms, as long as they do 
not degenerate into mere buffoonery. A short lec- 
ture on the period of each play will help. While 
some elder person may attend all the rehearsals, it 
should be preferably one with stage experience and 
the determination not to suggest or interfere, even 
upon request from the children, except when the 
need is great. It will be better to let the children 
do it as they feel it should be done, even when an 
elder person can see a better way. The use of mere 
intelligence and reasoning powers is often fatal to 
the feeling required to render the part. The child's 
natural behavior, not what an elder thinks it ought 
to be but what the child feels it is, is the standard. 



11 



Nothing should be clone to make the child self- 
conscious or lead him to show off. 

Elasticity. The plays may be given one at a 
time on six occasions, two at a time on three occa- 
sions, three at a time on two occasions, or all six 
on one occasion. There will be sixteen parts, and 
these may be expanded to twenty or forty in each 
play. The same children may act in all six, there 
may be complete casts for each of the six, or a*iy 
stage between. Probably, if there are children 
enough, separate casts for each, preventing the as- 
sembly of many children at any one time, will answer 
best. It will be seen that, including the executives, 
stage managers and so forth, the six plays may be 
rendered by about twenty children, or two s hundred 
and fifty may be utilized. 

Processioxs. If processions are decided upon, 
as indicated below, the prologues should precede them 
in all cases, following close upon the fall of each 
curtain -respectively. The prologue spoken, the 
speaker withdraws and the head of the procession 
should instantly appear at the left of the stage and 
progress slowly to the right. This may be done in 
front of the curtain indoors. Outdoors, pains should 
be taken to provide an exit, right, which will keep 
those in the procession from turning their backs on 
the audience as they leave the scene. As soon as 
the procession has filed from view, the play should 
begin. 

Play I. Indian chiefs in feathered bonnets. 
Medicine men with peace pipes. Braves with weap- 
ons. Squaws with babies in pappoose cases (large 
dolls with their hair covered will suffice). Little 



12 



children, and, possibly, large led dogs with travises 
hauling burdens. They will pass in Indian file. 

Play II. French boys in cassocks and cottas. 
A boy bearing a rude cross made of two sticks tied 
in place with strips of bark. A boy with a long robe 
of black and a wide-brimmed hat to look like a 
missionary. Woodrangers with packs of furs. An 
escort of French soldiers in three-cornered hats, 
white uniforms with cross belts, and white leggings 
to the knee, bearing the pure white banner of the 
Bourbon Kings, to be followed at a brief interval by 
British soldiers in the uniform of revolutionary 
times, bearing the British Union Jack of that day, 
which shows only the Crosses of St. George and St. 
Andrew. Drums can be used and appropriate 
national music played off stage. French girls in long 
capes may follow the Cross. 

Play III. Boys as frontiersmen, with coonskin 
caps, fringed hunting shirts and leggings, bearing 
the flag with thirteen stars in a circle. Girls with 
long skirts of calico and sunbonnets bearing old- 
fashioned spinning wheels, dasher churns, pots and 
cooking utensils, and the like. More boys in wide- 
brimmed straw hats with sickles and axes, bare- 
footed, followed by soldiers of the War of 1812, 
bearing the flag with fifteen stripes and fifteen stars 
arranged in quincunx, five rows of three each. 

Play IV. Blackhawk and braves of the Sacs and 
Foxes. Soldiers of 1S36 with the flag of twenty-one 
stars and thirteen stripes. Pioneers with rifles and 
axes. Coal miners with picks. School-teachers with 
bundles of switches, spectacled and severe — all men. 
College banners and colors of Illinois College, Jack- 



13 



sonville; McKendree College, Lebanon; Shurtleff Col- 
lege, Upper Alton, and Knox College, Galesburg. 

Play V. Boys with railroad lanterns and other 
railway apparatus. Boys in blue with the flag of 
thirty-four stars, Zouaves, girls as nurses. Women 
school-teachers. College banners and colors of Illi- 
nois Wesleyan University, Bloomington ; Chaddock 
College, Quincy; Lombard University, Salisbury; 
Northwestern University, Evanston; Lake Forest 
College, Monmouth College, the old University of 
Chicago, Eureka College, St. Ignatius College, Chi- 
cago, Northern Illinois College, Fulton, and North- 
western College, Naperville. 

Play VI. Boy Scouts and Campfire Girls with 
soldiers in khaki and sailors in white or blue. Girls 
as nurses with the Red Cross Flag. Color guard 
for the Flag with forty-eight stars. Food Conserva- 
tion boys and girls. Liberty Bond boys and girls. 

Final procession. Boys and girls in appropriate 
costume bearing the colors of the Allies. Belgium. 
Serbia. Montenegro. France. The British Jack, 
with England (a red cross on a white ground), Scot- 
land (a white X-cross on a blue ground), Ireland 
(a golden harp on a blue ground), Canada, Australia, 
South Africa, India, New Zealand, and Newfound- 
land. Japan. Italy. Portugal (red and green). 
Rumania. China. Brazil. Panama. Cuba. Siam. 
At last Columbia with the Stars and Stripes and 
Illinois with the Centennial Banner. National airs 
may be played. 

These processions may, of course, be omitted, or 
may be given at another time as one. A few chil- 
dren, perhaps twenty, will give the effect of the first 



14 



six, and the seventh may be omitted as too elaborate, 
or worked out on a separate feature. The number 
of children will be somewhat strictly limited indoors, 
but larger numbers may be used out-of-doors. Much 
stage management will be required to handle larger 
numbers. A separate pageant-master with aides will 
bring results. 

Conclusion. The plays will act in between 
twelve and fifteen minutes. The prologues take less 
than two minutes each. The processions should not 
average more than ten minutes each as a maximum. 
If all are given together, it will provide a full after- 
noon or evening entertainment of about two hours 
and a half, constituting an elaborate children's 
pageant. 

Let it be finally said that these are suggestions, 
not prescriptions. If local scenes can be dramatized 
and added, so much the better. Topics in local his- 
tory which do not yield dramatic results may be 
symbolized or indicated in processions. If the chil- 
dren themselves have ideas, by all means let them 
be worked out sympathetically: an ounce of original 
effort of this sort is worth a pound of anything dic- 
tated from outside. If a child or group of children 
has such an idea, it may lack the experience needed 
for its working out dramatically, in which case it 
may be given form by some one older and more ex- 
perienced in such expression. 

And do keep constantly in mind that these are 
children's plays, written for childish interpretation 
and written in the spirit of play and not of instruc- 
tion. 



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